IMAGINE 20 CHILDREN, 4 and 5 years old, playing outside in a public park. One climbs an oak tree, while a small group plays house between a couple of boulders. Another group plays tag on a big grassy field. Two youngsters examine a funnel weaver spider’s web. Two adult teachers watch and ensure the children’s safety.
This may not sound like school, but it is. It’s a special kind of learning environment called forest school, inspired by (free open-air life), the play-based, nature-centered pedagogical model from 1950s Denmark. Over the last six decades, that model has been exported around the world. In the forest-school movement, the goal is to encourage an organic, deep relationship to nature. Proponents believe that the best possible environment to achieve children’s optimal emotional, psychological, social and physical development is outside, immersed in the natural world.
